The Baahubali franchise has seen the emergence of the first truly pan Indian film franchise, and the impact it has had on Indian cinema cannot be overstated. This issue, we take a look at the history making run of the biggest blockbuster in Indian History - Baahubali 2
Baahubali the beginning was an ambitious film when it released, and it went on to set the box office on fire, collecting Rs. 650 crore worldwide in its theatrical run. Perhaps more significantly, it went on to establish a brand new category of films, by becoming the first true pan Indian movie. Before Baahubali, most movies would be hits in certain territories, while going unnoticed elsewhere. Superstars like Shahrukh Khan and Rajnikant would set cash registers ringing in their own markets, but would not do business of the same stature throughout the country. Baahubali changed all that, becoming the first Indian movie to unanimously achieve success in all the states of India. It was fitting, then, that Baahubali 2 would become the most anticipated movie in Indian history, and it certainly didn’t disappoint.
Ever since its release on April 28, Baahubali 2 has been busy creating and breaking records. If people queued for hours outside the theatres to get the tickets to the most-awaited film of the year, others went berserk making online bookings days before its release. Such has been the craze around the film that BookMyShow ended up selling 12 tickets per second for this masterpiece. Keeping in mind the huge craze around Baahubali 2, the makers wanted it to be a perfect experience for the fans. And that's the reason that the film was released in 9000 screens across the world, making it the first film to get this big a release. With theatres having as many as 40 shows in a day, the film has been released in 6500 screens in India only.
Baahubali 2 became the first film ever to cross Rs. 100 crore on its opening day (It grossed Rs. 121 crore, the previous record being Rs. 45 crore for SRK starrer Happy New Year). The film, which was made in Tamil and Telugu and dubbed in Hindi and Malayalam, shattered records with its opening day collection. It has since become a landmark film at the worldwide box office, by collecting over Rs. 1000 crore in 10 days. It is the first Indian film ever to touch the magic figure of grossing over 1000 crore worldwide, out of which roughly Rs. 800 crore has come from Indian domestic theatricals, and the rest from overseas markets. The Hindi dubbed version of SS Rajamouli's magnum opus collected Rs. 41 crore on its opening day making it the biggest opening for a dubbed film. The Hindi version alone has crossed Rs. 300 crore and is racing towards Rs. 400 crore — a new record for a Hindi film. And the US market, dominated thus far by the three Khans, Baahubali 2 became the first Indian film to do a business of Rs. 100 crore. It has beaten Dangal’s $12.4 million to rank as the number one (Indian) film in the US. It had the third-biggest foreign language debut ever in the United States, only behind two Jet Li martial arts films.
The movie raked in nearly Rs. 36 crore through advance bookings alone, beating Aamir Khan's Dangal (18 crore).
The movie got the largest screen space in India, being released to 9000 screens, beating Salman Khan's record with Sultan (4350 screens).
The movie beat Shah Rukh Khan's Raees' 70 percent occupancy with a massive 95 per cent.
Its occupancy matched the likes of those of Prem Ratan Dhan Payo and Dhoom 3, but pulled ahead because of a higher screen count.
The movie netted Rs. 121 crore on its very first day! This blew past Raees's 'measly' 20.4 crore.
The movie's Rs. 121 crore easily blew past the 50 crore Baahubali: The Beginning pulled in.
By entering the club on its very first day, it easily surpassed the time Baahubali: The Beginning took (2 days).
The movie surpassed the first part to claim a record Rs. 41 crore on day one with just the Hindi dubbed version.
The film earned Rs. 80 crore through the Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam versions on day one.
The film even managed to rock the American box-office with $2.5 million, blasting past the likes of Fate of the Furious ($1.9 million), Beauty and the Beast ($661K) and Boss Baby ($562K).
Baahubali 2 earned a staggering Rs. 102 crore on day 2, pulling in a massive two day total of 223 crore.
The movie easily managed to make its Rs. 102 crore the biggest day 2 of 2017.
Baahubali 1 and 2, were both made on a combined budget of Rs. 250 crores. Baahubali 1 made Rs. 650 crores, and Baahubali 2 has already crossed 1000 crores by day 10, which might make the combined collections of the franchise to cross 2000 crore in total during the lifetime, which makes for a nearly a 10 time return on investment, an unheard of phenomenon in India. Globally, only a few films like Avatar ($2.7 Billion on a $237 million budget), Titanic ($2.17 billion on a $200 million budget), and Star Wars the Force Awakens ($2.06 billion on a $300 million budget) have managed to get such a high return on investment.
SS Rajamouli, the director of the Baahubali series, has already hinted at a sequel to Baahubali 2 on the cards. If that materializes, it is sure to become an even bigger blockbuster, making the already biggest movie franchise in Indian history even more humongous.
Till then, let’s take a look at some of the records set by Baahubali 2. (in the adjoining box)
by Neeraj Varty
